Stunning Pop Star Reveals Story of Crossing the Border

“My parents brought me to this country with nothing in their pockets but hope.”

6 months ago

Pop sensation Camila Cabello — who’s in the middle of an international tour with Taylor Swift and just swept MTV’s Video Music Awards — was recently highlighted in Marie Claire’s Immigration Issue.

“The daughter of a Cuban mother and a Mexican father, Cabello shuttled back and forth between her birthplace and Mexico City until the age of 6, when she left for the U.S,” Marie Claire’s Brooke Hauser writes. “Her mother told her they were going to Disney World when they were crossing the border, and for the journey she packed Cabello’s backpack with her favorite Winnie the Pooh journal and her doll. The family later reunited in Miami, where Cabello’s mom, an architect in Cuba, worked in the shoe department at Marshalls by day and took English classes at night. Her dad washed cars before starting a construction business with his wife.”

Cabello herself addressed how hard she and her family worked while speaking at the 2018 Grammys, saying: “Just like the Dreamers, my parents brought me to this country with nothing in their pockets but hope. They showed me what it means to work twice as hard and never give up. And honestly, no part of my journey is any different from theirs,” she said. “I’m a proud Cuban-Mexican immigrant, born in eastern Havana, standing in front of you on the Grammy stage in New York City, and all I know is, just like dreams, these kids can’t be forgotten and are worth fighting for.”

Take a look below at Cabello’s music video for Havana, about her home city, and also the “Video of the Year” winner at the VMAs.